The popularity of puzzles which require intellectual skill and manual dexterity has significantly increased. Examples of such puzzles are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,677,547 and 4,008,895. The present invention is directed to that group including mazes and commonly intersecting passageways through which a spherical member is manipulated.
More specifically the present invention is a puzzle formed of a plurality of continuously open, tubular channels which intersect at a common medial point and which are filled with identifiable groups of spherical beads that are selectively arranged and rearranged for correct solution to the puzzle. The movement of the beads is accomplished by means of a rotating cap that has means for selectively trapping and retaining the spherical members which are tilted thereinto. The open, distal ends of the channels lie in a common horizontal plane on which the rotating cap is mounted.
The cap includes at least two traps having openings which can be selectively aligned with a prescribed channel opening. When so aligned, one of the spherical members is tilted into the trap and transferred to another channel by rotating the cap to align the trap with the opening of another channel and tilting the bead into the channel.
Any number of arrangements and regrouping of the spherical members can be accomplished by the selective transfer from one channel to another. While simple models of the puzzle may include only two channels which intersect at right angles to each other as will be more completely described below, complex puzzles may include as many as six channels intersecting at a common point; or eight, ten, or more channels, only prescribed ones of which intersect at a common medial point but all of which are interrelated for the purpose of trapping and rearranging the beads.